Festival Thoughts

Welcome to indietalk.

What I look for in a festival is "butts in seats". I have been to hundreds of film
festivals where the audience is filmmakers, friends and family and almost no
one else. I have been to small fests where I am the only person in the audience
because the movie being shown was made by a filmmaker from out of state who
couldn't afford to fly in for the screening.

As a filmmaker I have flown across the country to attend a screening of my movie
only to sit in an almost empty theater.

All of the above and more. I used to be involved with one where we had lots of events in addition to the screenings. Some were free and other were for a fee. Ours was international in scope and provided a stipend plus lodging for the filmmaker, some revenue from the screening and the ability to sell DVDs.

Thank you both for the response.

@directorik - That is definitely an issue i've been thinking about. I live in a tourist town so I'm hoping to draw from the tourists themselves to help fill the seats, and being a first year event the cost of admission will be relatively cheap. Hopefully I can get a decent audience so I don't run into the situation of nobody watching the films. The hard part however, is to get them in to the seats. All the best in your endeavors and thanks for the heads up.

@morris - Those extra events are the ones i'm having issue with. I'm going to get some speakers and hopefully a few workshops, and naturally a wrap party. All of which will be included with the ticket. But I'm concerned that won't be enough. Sure that will attract more filmmakers, but as directorik stated in his post, I need to attract a wider audience (major paraphrasing). And I'm on a tight budget.

Do either of you, or anyone else for that matter, think that this would be enough for a first year event? My goal is not to get rich, but to do more than enough to ensure that this will happen next year, and the next.

Thank you again for your responses, any and all advice or thoughts/suggestions are beyond valued.

TZ

What are your goals for the film festival? That's an important question to ask. Are you looking at it as a business or as a way for you as a filmmaker to network?

The issue is the usual one; name recognition. Speakers are great. But
only if they are people who others want to hear speak. Put my name
on a flyer as a speaker and while I can tell some great stories and have
plenty of experience no one will want to come see me speak. Workshops
are nice. But who is in need of workshops and what are the workshops?
A wrap party is nice, too. Open bar?

On a limited budget can you attract “name” speakers? Can you offer
workshops by “name” instructors? Is the wrap party an event that
people will need to go to or just a fun party with other wannabes?

And that is the issue getting people to pay to watch movies. Tourists
are rarely film buffs who want to spend an evening or two of their
limited vacation time watching movies made by people that don't
know with actors they have never heard of. Even local film buffs rarely
do that. Rarely is cost the issue. A few years ago one of my features
was in a festival in Los Angeles, at a major theater and the tickets
were free. No one was there. Because no one wanted to spend 90
minutes watching a movie made by a director they didn't know with
actors they had never heard of.

Not trying to be discouraging. I'm sure you have attended dozens of
film festivals before deciding to present one yourself. So you know
what YOU did and did not like. As a filmmaker I'm not as interested
in parties and workshops as I am is getting my movie in front of an
audience. Not that parties and workshops aren't fun and the right
speaker can make an impact.

@sweetie, in all honesty my goal for the festival is to provide another outlet for film makers. In this area there isn't much to offer for the independent film maker. I really just want to create a stage to show films that other wise would not be seen (short of their families).

@directorik, First and foremost, congratulations on your screening (regardless of attendance).

I can not attract "names" with my budget and any names that I could personally call are on the west coast and there is no budget to fly them out. Let alone, provide lodging. Speaking from a production standpoint, this is the definition of a "grassroots/guerilla" style festival.

My three biggest budget lines are promotion, prizes/awards, and the venue. I'm hoping that the prizes themselves would be able to attract film makers (this is me being green). The after party will be a concert, regionally known local band, as well as the award presentations (trophies and such). But my issue is beating the dead horse, getting people to attend. I know it can be done, and I WILL figure it out. Just maybe not in the first year.... an by all means, you are not being discouraging. I wouldn't be in the position I am today if I ran at the first sign of trouble, and that goes for anybody else in the entertainment business.


With all that being said, and without crossing the line of advertising for the event; The city where this event will be held is a major tourist destination. People come to this town either for it's indie art scene or just simply the scenery. During our peak, we could see an extra one hundred thousand (100,000) people everyday. All from tourists. That is a 33% percent increase. So unfortunately, I will have to market to these tourists.

As far as the festivals I attended, sad to say, I never really went to watch films. I went to meet people in the industry. The problem with that is that nobody wanted to meet me (which could have very well been a self-confidence issue). So I decided to put one on focusing on the lesser known/unknown film makers, the up and comers if you will. I am not anticipating massive crowds, so in theory the event would be small enough to meet everyone there, but not so small that you could meet everyone by standing in the same spot.


It's a lot to think about and I greatly appreciate all your time and thoughts that you have thrown my way.

The best successful example that I've seen of what you're describing is the Woods Hole Film Festival in Cape Cod, MA (although by the time I went there it had been around for 20 years so I'm sure they had plenty of growing pains).

It takes place in late July/early August in a small coastal town that's a vacation destination with minimal amounts of evening entertainment for the tourists. The year I was there (2013 for the premiere of my - shameless plug - feature Surviving Family) their ticket sales venue was an old fire house. They rented the ground floor and had the doors wide open to the street so that anyone who walked past would be lured in. They had lots of displays of posters about the movies, and people selling tickets to screenings right there (all of the venues were on the same main street). There were also posters all over town.

Locals DO come out to support the movies (granted, I did a LOT of my own leg work to fill the auditorium), and that's one of the reasons why I recommend it to other filmmakers.

They did not have famous people, but they did have filmmaker breakfasts and other events/parties that were great for networking. I'm still in touch with a number of filmmakers that I met there.

Your goal is to provide a place for other filmmaker to gather, party
and watch each others films. That is a noble goal.

I hope you can figure out how to get people to attend. THAT is the
issue. Even YOU a filmmaker have never gone to a film festival to
watch films. And you are not alone. Very few filmmaker attend film
festivals except to "network" - meaning trying to get someone to
notice them, hire them or buy their product. But they don't really want
to watch films made by people they don't know starring actors they've
never heard of.

So you may want to ask yourself; what would get ME to go to a film
festival to watch films? What would it take, TZ?

@mlesemann, Thanks for the tip. I will check that festival out and maybe even try to reach out. The networking luncheons/breakfasts is a great idea and I'm sure I could pull that off. Hopefully I will have enough of a turn out to make it work this year.

I really appreciate all the thoughts that are being thrown my way. Of all the forums I have ever been on (all types, not just film) this is by far the most responsive. Not to mention knowledgeable.

Thank you all,

TZ

@directorik, The first thought that popped in mind in response to your question was one I don't care to share. I feel the same as most others, not proud of that but I'm being honest.

I guess showing really good movies, I do plan on packaging a trailer of all the finalists so maybe I can spin the worst movies to seem good (you know, hollywood style) And if the film makers allow and I have the budget to do so, I will purchase some local commercial blocks closer to the event.

One other thought - if you can interest the local media (including arts-related bloggers not just tv) you can generate some publicity for the fest that way. And filmmakers are always interested in festivals that are getting publicity (and the first thing we - or at least I - do is google the fest to see what info is out there).

@mlesemann, I completely agree. That is one of the reasons I have not Officially announced the event. I have hired freelance PR reps for press releases and I plan to contact as many newspapers, bloggers, mags, listing sites, universities, radio, etc. Promotion is one of, if not the most important aspect of making this event a success. And I hope to canvas the entire southeast if not the eastern sea board. I would love to do more on the west coast, but again, due to budget issues, it will be heavier on the east coast.

But you are right, this is all about publicity!

First at Bat said:

@directorik, The first thought that popped in mind in response to your question was one I don't care to share. I feel the same as most others, not proud of that but I'm being honest.

Click to expand...

You are in the vast majority. You aren't terribly interested in seeing most
moves made by your fellow filmmakers. Most are pretty bad. All festivals
show good movies. At least movies the judging committee felt were good.
That isn't always enough. If filmmakers don't want to go simply to support
their peers it seems a daunting task to get a percentage of tourists in town
to see the indie art scene and scenery to pay to watch those movies.

Pushing the local aspect is an excellent way to go; local filmmakers,
local bands, local events.

What a great experience! Should be fun and terrifying.

Terrifying for sure and I agree with what you are saying in regards to watching the films. I would love to go purely for my viewing pleasure but it's hard enough to watch the "big box" films. I am not against watching them (indies), but like you said, most are pretty bad. So that only brings up more problems to think about. Attracting quality films in addition to an audience.

So here's to production, Cheers!


Side note, I would be happy to break even. I've given my self 3-4 years to build this event and the company itself will be throwing other, unrelated, events that will hopefully help supplement the film fest. I know that isn't the best business model, but the film fest is more "a labor of love."

One thing that is very important is getting community support. This includes local filmmakers , business leaders, web designers, others in the creattive community and film buffs. We had volunteers from all ages and walks of life. Students from high school to colleges and even some instructors and professors. Businesses or individuals can help to sponsor different films.

directorik said:

So you may want to ask yourself; what would get ME to go to a film
festival to watch films? What would it take, TZ?

Click to expand...

There is always this approach
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=54531

I've gotta say that I'm really happy with the way this thread is turning out. A lot of great thoughts and advice. I'm giving all of them serious thought as well as implementing a lot of these ideas.

I can not thank you enough, all of you.

I, too, am toying with starting a genre-specific festival. Maybe next year. But one thing I'll do that I would like to see more of in festivals is more awards.

I'm a small filmmaker with mostly no-budget films under my belt. So I know I'm lucky to even get into a festival. That's an achievement for me. A laurel on the poster is the most I can hope for. Because I really can't compete with films that have budgets. So I have no hope of winning anything if the fest merely offers a few "best awards."

So have lots of categories. Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting, Best Ensemble. I can't win best film but if I use good actors maybe one will get something. I can't win Best Short Film, but maybe I can get Best Sci-Fi Short, or Best FX.

Basically, your fest will be more attractive to filmmakers is there is more possibility of them winning some type of award. More submissions means more films which means more chances of filmmakers attending which means more tickets, more attendance, etc.

And I think having Q&A panels after screenings appeals to filmmakers who love to talk about their films. And for your local audiences, I think they enjoy hearing from those filmmakers discuss the process of making films.

/2¢

directorik said:

......
Very few filmmaker attend film
festivals except to "network" - meaning trying to get someone to
notice them, hire them or buy their product. But they don't really want
to watch films made by people they don't know starring actors they've
never heard of.
.................

Click to expand...

Last week IFFR was in Rotterdam, a filmfestival I always try to go to see at least one movie made by people I never heard of and I can't understand without subtitles. Alas, this year I didn't have enough time to go...
I really like that festival: watching films I wouldn't see in any other way

But you are right:
- what is the festival's purpose?
- how can you make sure the target audience will attend it?

It's like anyother business?
- what are you selling?
- how do you make sure people will buy it?